Employment Tribunal claims reach ten-year high

An already existing backlog coupled with COVID challenges has resulted in Employment Tribunal claims reaching a ten-year high.

While the influx of claims had already begun pre COVID, triggered not least by the removal of Employment Tribunal fees in 2017, pandemic challenges have added to the backlog through the introduction of furlough challenges, working practice shifts and redundancies.

In practice what this means is the time taken to process a single claim has increased to 39 weeks, adding an extra 5 weeks to the process compared to 2018/2019. This extra time adds business risk; witnesses’ availability may change or evidence may be forgotten about/lost.

The Business Impact

While an Employment Tribunal claim is not something a business actively sets out to cause, all too often not following correct employment processes do result in them occurring. Adding in the multiple challenges that the last year has presented employers, such as furlough, working from home and flexible working requests, it is unfortunately all too easy to see why an influx of Tribunal claims has occurred.

When it comes to Tribunals therefore, prevention is better than the cure – ensure your business is protected by follow clear and compliant employment processes.

HR Advice – Key Top Tips to Avoid Employment Tribunals:

 Make sure you know how employment legislation applies to your business

• Ensure you have legally compliant employment contracts and handbook
• Keep updated with legislation changes which may impact your company
• Carry out clear Equality & Diversity training, protecting your employees from harassment and discrimination
• Compliantly manage any employee relations issue around conduct, performance or absence issue

If employment challenges are something you’d like support with, contact us today & we’ll introduce you to one of our expert HR Consultants